The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 336



Only Krnovel

336. Prelude to victory (5)

A magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred in northeastern Japan.

There was a lot of damage in the aftermath of the earthquake that caused a huge tsunami.

In particular, it was a large-scale disaster that led to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

“Honey, Chairman! A major earthquake has occurred in Japan!”

A president hurriedly ran into the chairman’s office.

The planning director who was talking to me, on the contrary, rushed outside to assess the situation.

“Finally, the main earthquake occurred.”

“Japanese stock prices and the yen have already begun to shake. In particular, stock prices of Japanese manufacturing companies are plummeting at a rapid pace.”

“Now it’s time to raise the net.”

“So many fish have been caught that it seems like it would take quite a bit of strength to properly lift the net. I think I’ll have to go to Japan myself.”

“Please come back. I will tell Captain Kang, so please move with the bodyguards. It is not unusual for you to get stabbed at any time.”

Some people called this earthquake humanity’s greatest disaster.

Using such a major disaster to make money, of course, we had to pay attention to safety.

“I will come back. I think we can take the plane carrying the relief supplies.”

“The relief work has been decided to be handled by Taewoo Corporation, so CEO Han should only worry about playing with numbers.”

“I’ll come back with a lot of fish!”

A president headed to Japan with a solemn expression.

After he left, the planning director came into the chairman’s office and briefed him on the current situation.

“The aftereffects of this earthquake are growing bigger than expected. A nuclear power plant located in Fukushima even exploded.”

“It will take at least 10 years for Japan to recover from the aftermath of this earthquake. Are there any Taewoo Group employees who have suffered any further damage?”

“Thanks to the Chairman’s instructions, all employees who were in Japan have returned to Korea or moved to the safe Tokyo area. All employees and their families are safe.”

It was fortunate that the employees were safe.

It is safe to say that all employees of the Taewo Group were talented people who I personally selected.

For existing employees, I personally checked the list, and for new employees, I personally selected them after reading their resumes.

It was fortunate that the talent selected with so much effort were safe.

In fact, because Taewu Group had only a few businesses in Japan, the number of employees working there was also small.

That is why all employees were able to evacuate without any damage.

“It’s fortunate that Taewoo’s staff was not harmed. What about the damage to Korean residents?”

“Thanks to the National Economic Party’s intervention, the damage was greatly reduced. Most Korean residents were evacuated to a safe place.”

“It appears that the influence of the National Economic Party is greater than expected. I did not think that one press conference would be enough to evacuate Korean residents.”

“It is said that several members of the National Economic Party National Assembly directly moved to the northeastern region to evacuate Korean residents. And Governor Choi Jae-seok is also said to have evacuated Korean residents from Japan until yesterday.”

Governor Choi Jae-seok was in Japan until yesterday?

If I had been late even by a day, I could have had a serious accident, so I cursed under my breath.

“Where did you go directly? Don’t you know that if something happens to Governor Choi Jae-seok, the National Economy Party will disappear?”

“It is said that they took leave and moved in secret together with National Economy Party members. However, thanks to Governor Choi Jae-seok’s direct movement, Korean residents were able to evacuate quickly.”

“Where is Governor Choi Jae-seok now? Is he hurt anywhere?”

“He is currently working in Gyeonggi-do and is said to be in very good health.”

I quickly regained my composure.

Although it was a very dangerous task, there was nothing bad about it in the end.

The fact that Governor Choi Jae-seok visited Japan and evacuated Korean residents right before the earthquake occurred could have been a great story.

“There must be related videos or materials, right?”

“It is said that since it was a move at the political party level, some promotional videos were filmed. However, the length is not very long. Instead, there are quite a lot of videos filmed by Korean residents. And many of the videos have already been posted on social media.”

The planning director showed me a video uploaded on social media.

A video of Governor Choi Jae-seok and lawmakers evacuating Korean residents was uploaded not only to SNS but also to WeTube.

“Use a professional editor to produce a promotional video. Then distribute it to the media and social media to actively promote it.”

“This incident has already been widely covered in the media. Thanks to Governor Choi Jae-seok’s foresight, we were able to save many Korean residents, and public opinion is even saying that the governor took over what the government should have done.”

“Continue to fan the flames of public opinion until the next presidential election.”

“I won’t just fan you, I’ll pour oil on you!”

There was a saying that the presidential election is determined by heaven.

No matter how well-known he was and how strong his support was, he could never be elected if he did not ride the wind.

However, although Governor Choi Jae-seok said that I prepared the plan, he created the wind himself.

It was impossible to bring down someone who had started to get wind of it.

As long as Governor Choi Jae-seok does not make any mistakes, he could establish himself as a strong candidate for the next presidential election.

“Public opinion criticizing Taewoo Group has probably disappeared.”

“Responses praising the Taewo Group for predicting the earthquake are continuing. And the pressure coming from the government has disappeared at once.”

Just yesterday, the government was threatening to conduct a tax investigation.

However, when the earthquake actually occurred, we lost our justification, and now we are in a situation where we have to watch our own behavior.

“There is no good in being at odds with the government for no reason. Comment that the Taewoo Group was able to predict the earthquake because of the government’s help.”

“Is there any need to give credit to a government that has done nothing? There is not much time left in office anyway.”

“We must share the credit in order to erase the image that we only favor the National Economy Party. And even if we do share the credit, will the people accept it as is?”

The Blue House spokesperson came forward and criticized us.

Taewo Group was the Blue House spokesperson who issued a comment telling people to be self-respecting and not spread rumors or cause trouble.

So even if we said we were giving credit to the government, no one would believe us.

“We will provide just enough help so that the government can take a breather.”

“That’s enough. And what’s going on with the relief supplies?”

“A large amount has already arrived in Japan and is being supplied to the victims. Additionally, we are moving additional relief supplies, and supplies from the Amazon are also scheduled to arrive soon.”

Because we prepared in advance, we were able to secure a large amount of relief supplies.

This amount was equivalent to the amount secured by the Japanese government.

“Please let the media know that Taewoo Group was able to secure a large amount of relief supplies because it predicted the earthquake in advance. Also, send $200 million in relief donations through the Red Cross by today.”

“Are you talking about $200 million? Isn’t that too much?”

“If you want to show off, it will be more effective if you rank first in relief donations. And compared to the revenue we earn, about $200 million is not that big of a sum.”

Relief donation rankings are usually compiled through the Red Cross.

Therefore, sending $200 million in relief donations through the Red Cross was a good way to show off.

“I understand. I will meet with the Korean Red Cross officials today and deliver the guardian donation.”

“If possible, bring in the media and promote it on a large scale. In today’s world, no one notices if you donate secretly. This is a world where good things are recognized only when others know about them.”

“We will invite not only Korean media but also foreign media to hold a relief donation ceremony. But how about the chairman participate in person?”

Nothing good happened when I stepped forward.

It was already too much to show his face through a press conference, so it was better to keep quiet this time.

“Proceed with Vice Chairman Park Man-deuk. A vice-chairman rank will be sufficient.”

“I will go to the Korean Red Cross with Vice President Park Man-deuk right now.”

A really busy day had passed.

But there was still a lot of work to do, and I had to spend all night in the office dealing with the Great East Japan Earthquake.

* * *

next day.

I received a call from a CEO early in the morning.

“How’s the situation in Japan? It’s not all that crazy, right?”

[This is more chaotic than the Lehman incident. The damage from this major earthquake is expected to be over 20 trillion yen. Additionally, manufacturing production facilities in the automobile, oil refining, electronics, and steel industries were damaged, and power supply was disrupted due to problems with the Fukushima nuclear power plant.]

Manufacturing-based companies ultimately generate sales only by selling products.

So, it was natural for stock prices to fall the moment production facilities were destroyed.

“The Nikkei index fell a lot.”

[The stock price fell only 2% yesterday, but the stock price is falling rapidly starting today. In particular, stock prices of manufacturing companies are falling even faster. It is expected that the stock price will fall by more than 20% in a short period of time.]

Even during the Lehman crisis, Japanese stock prices did not fall this quickly.

Although it is called a global financial crisis, the Lehman incident was nothing more than a decline in product sales.

However, due to this earthquake, the product itself could not be produced, so the stock price could not be avoided.

“Japanese financial companies must be very anxious.”

[Not only do I call, but I even have representatives from financial companies come to me in person to ask to meet me. After listening to the Chairman’s words, I think it was really a good idea to come to Japan with Captain Kang.]

Contracts signed with Japanese financial companies exceeded $15 billion.

Once the terms of the contract were activated, we could make more than 10 times as much money, and it was an amount that was difficult for Japanese financial companies to cover.

“Let’s just wait until Japanese financial companies are on the verge of bankruptcy. If news comes out that Japanese financial companies are going bankrupt because of us, public criticism will become stronger.”

[I will only leave out cash, stocks, and real estate. Just by doing that, you can at least triple your business.]

Japan was just a practice match.

The game was in Europe, so there was no need to relax too much in the practice game.

In the case of Europe, no matter how much we omitted, there would be no public criticism, so there was no need to worry.

“Quickly reach an agreement with a financial company, liquidate short selling as quickly as possible, and then invest in a rising yen.”

[Starting today, we will meet financial company representatives one by one.]

Insurance contracts and short selling.

In this case, public opinion could be criticized, but in the case of the yen, who can say anything?

There was no reason to be criticized, especially if you were betting on a rise in the yen rather than a fall in the yen.

“What is Japanese public opinion like?”

[Strangely, there are no stories related to the Taewo Group in the media. We are providing enormous relief supplies.]

“Relief donations will be delivered by today. When that happens, the Japanese media will also start to take action.”

We were the ones taking the initiative.

What if the Japanese media and government create public opinion criticizing us?

Then, we would no longer have to worry about whether Japanese companies went bankrupt or not, so we could just squeeze it out like a rag.